Setup/RAID/ProRes422/Help FCP

I have built up my computer as far as it can go for a while so now i need some help optimizing it along with my work flow. I use a canon HV30 with FCP studio 2. As far as "what I do", it's a mixed can... mini docs, music videos, live music events (dubbing) and weddings. Can I have some help please?

1. How should I set up my raid and media? two RAID 0 set up with the 500gig HDs, OS on the 750gig and use the one terrabyte for storage?
1a. if yes to the above, what should i place on each RAID drive?

2. ProRes422... when and why? The HV30 wraps the 24p into a 60i format which apple suggests that I convert right away into ProRes422 24p. Is that good?
2a. Should I do that in the second stage after I have done my initial sequence work (i.e- live music event and dubbing) then go to Prores?

3. Rendering. I thought that dropping the clip into the sequence and agreeing to YES when asked if I should change it to that codec was the way to speed up rendering, but a recent forum subject said that it was best to go to ProRes. True or False? And that's just for the video. What Audio codec do you want to use?

4. Back to the RAID. Seeing as I use COLOR as well, what step do I want to do that?
Would my workflow look like:
import from tape (HDV) > work on time line editing and dubbing > color > export to prores? Or do I import as PRORES and go through the steps?

5. when and where do you fit in:
- motion templates (like name tags and supers)
- soundtrack pro (making it sound better)

i. Titles, overlays, and the like: lots of fun, can add double-plus- to your piece, but no one -- and I mean no one -- ever won [an Academy Award / a Palm d'Or / the award you care about] because they had the sweetest credit roll. This is pure fun, so leave it for the end when you either (a) need a enjoyable part to motivate you to keep working or (b) have no time left and you're thankful that all the substantive parts got done.

ii. Sound: Soundtrack pro, Soundbooth, Garageband, [whatever] can't fix bad sound. If you have any production input at all, push for good sound. If not, pray for it. Unlike titles, think about this from the beginning -- and that's before you start thinking about camera angles, lenses, or how you're going to shoot your whole feature film during the magic hour. Remember that your film will generally make much more sense with only good sound and no picture than the other way around. Soundtrack can make good sound great, but it can't cure crap.

2. ProRes422... when and why? The HV30 wraps the 24p into a 60i format which apple suggests that I convert right away into ProRes422 24p. Is that good?
2a. Should I do that in the second stage after I have done my initial sequence work (i.e- live music event and dubbing) then go to Prores?

Click to expand...

If you want to work in a 24p timeline you have to reverse telecine and convert to ProRes after you've captured your footage but before you start editing. If you are going to master back to HDV tape though you should just edit the HDV natively.

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3. Rendering. I thought that dropping the clip into the sequence and agreeing to YES when asked if I should change it to that codec was the way to speed up rendering, but a recent forum subject said that it was best to go to ProRes. True or False? And that's just for the video. What Audio codec do you want to use?

Click to expand...

If you are working in a Long GOP codec such as HDV or the XDCAM family you can change the setting in the Render Control tab of your sequence settings to ProRes. This will speed up renders and keep the rendered sections at a higher quality.

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4. Back to the RAID. Seeing as I use COLOR as well, what step do I want to do that?
Would my workflow look like:
import from tape (HDV) > work on time line editing and dubbing > color > export to prores? Or do I import as PRORES and go through the steps?

Click to expand...

If you want to edit 1080i60 I would keep everything in HDV, edit, go to Color, and have Color render your files out as ProRes.

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5. when and where do you fit in:
- motion templates (like name tags and supers)
- soundtrack pro (making it sound better)

Hamster, it took me a lot of patience to get that rig as a student in a media program. Thank you. Also, thanks for the tips.

Lethal...
More or Less you are saying keep my files in HDV and render in ProRes?

Click to expand...

It depends. Are you going to master back to HDV tape? If so, just keep your files HDV. Although, if it was me, I wouldn't master back to HDV tape I'd just export a high quality QT and store it on a couple external HDDs or burn it to a couple of BR discs or something like that.

If you want to shoot and edit in 24p you need to reverse telecine and transcode to ProRes right off the bat. If you want to edit in 60i you could edit in HDV (don't apply any filters or FX yet), send to Color for CC, have Color send ProRes files back to FCP, then apply any filters/FX you want on the footage as well as your GFX. This would save you time and space because they only things that would be getting converted to ProRes are what you are using in your edit.

I have one last optimizing question:
my riad card can handle 4 drives of which I have 4 -500gig WD 7200 rpm drives. Do I want to:
1. make 2 -RAID 0 drives. one hold my media and the other is a scratch disc
2. make all 4 into a raid 0 and make it the sratch disc with the media on my 1tb drive?

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